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Europe Mandates Interoperable Charger for Phones, Tablets

Article Comments  6  

Mar 13, 2014, 7:22 AM   by Eric M. Zeman

The European Parliament today approved legislation that will require all mobile device makers to use a single, interoperable charger that works with any smartphone or tablet. Europe already requires that all mobile phones use the same charge port (microUSB), and today's legislation expands that to tablets, as well. Individual countries in the European Union have two years to adopt the EU legislation internally, and then manufacturers will have another year after that to comply. Toine Manders, with ALDE Group, said, "This legislation will bring benefits to consumers and will reduce waste." Those who introduced the legislation believe it will save European consumers 300 million Euros annually, as well as cut down the amount of electronic and paper waste. The rules also help to ensure that mobile devices and their chargers don't interfere with one another, while also maintaining Europe's safety requirements. Many manufacturers have already adopted microUSB as the standard for charging their devices, but some, such as Apple, use their own, proprietary ports and cables. In order to comply with European law, Apple now supplies an adapter with iPhones. It's unclear how it will comply with the new laws.

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crood

Mar 13, 2014, 10:36 AM

So what happens when...

...they come up with something better? There's talk of a future usb connector that will be reversible like Apple's lightning connector.

Will they have to wait until the EU Parliment permits the switch and then wait for member government approve it or will they have to include an adapter in perpetuity?
I'm sure that when a new standard comes along it will be lobbied for and incorporated in a new bill. I really hated when all the phones had different chargers and it added to a lot of waste and excess consumer cost.
The point of the legislation is not so much as to force one specific standard as it is to say that there has to one standard that everything uses so that consumers don't have to buy 50 different chargers for 50 different devices because each one uses ...
(continues)
...
gfondeur

Mar 13, 2014, 9:30 AM

lol

In your face apple!!! 😛
 
 
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